David Lester

Good Moring All,
I have a brief update. I've pretty much finished preparing all of the components for the deck and have begun installing them. I'm working from the stern to the bow and completing all the elements for each area as I move along. I've eliminated some of the rigging on the carronades. There are supposed to be two sets of tackle on each side, but I'm just modeling one of them. The scale of the blocks seems too big to me and when I tried to include the shorter set of tackle I ended up with the two blocks sitting very close together or even touching. It just looked too crowded and messy to me, so I've stripped it back a bit and leaving it at one set of tackle plus the breech line. I'm not sure if coiling the ends of the rope on the deck is historically accurate or not, but I'm doing it anyway for two reasons - I like the look of it and it's not hard to do and it tends to draw the eye away from some of my less skillful detailing.
David 

Good Moring All,
I have a brief update. I've pretty much finished preparing all of the components for the deck and have begun installing them. I'm working from the stern to the bow and completing all the elements for each area as I move along. I've eliminated some of the rigging on the carronades. There are supposed to be two sets of tackle on each side, but I'm just modeling one of them. The scale of the blocks seems too big to me and when I tried to include the shorter set of tackle I ended up with the two blocks sitting very close together or even touching. It just looked too crowded and messy to me, so I've stripped it back a bit and leaving it at one set of tackle plus the breech line. I'm not sure if coiling the ends of the rope on the deck is historically accurate or not, but I'm doing it anyway for two reasons - I like the look of it and it's not hard to do and it tends to draw the eye away from some of my less skillful detailing.
David 

Good Moring All,
I have a brief update. I've pretty much finished preparing all of the components for the deck and have begun installing them. I'm working from the stern to the bow and completing all the elements for each area as I move along. I've eliminated some of the rigging on the carronades. There are supposed to be two sets of tackle on each side, but I'm just modeling one of them. The scale of the blocks seems too big to me and when I tried to include the shorter set of tackle I ended up with the two blocks sitting very close together or even touching. It just looked too crowded and messy to me, so I've stripped it back a bit and leaving it at one set of tackle plus the breech line. I'm not sure if coiling the ends of the rope on the deck is historically accurate or not, but I'm doing it anyway for two reasons - I like the look of it and it's not hard to do and it tends to draw the eye away from some of my less skillful detailing.
David 

Good Moring All,
I have a brief update. I've pretty much finished preparing all of the components for the deck and have begun installing them. I'm working from the stern to the bow and completing all the elements for each area as I move along. I've eliminated some of the rigging on the carronades. There are supposed to be two sets of tackle on each side, but I'm just modeling one of them. The scale of the blocks seems too big to me and when I tried to include the shorter set of tackle I ended up with the two blocks sitting very close together or even touching. It just looked too crowded and messy to me, so I've stripped it back a bit and leaving it at one set of tackle plus the breech line. I'm not sure if coiling the ends of the rope on the deck is historically accurate or not, but I'm doing it anyway for two reasons - I like the look of it and it's not hard to do and it tends to draw the eye away from some of my less skillful detailing.
David 

Good Moring All,
I have a brief update. I've pretty much finished preparing all of the components for the deck and have begun installing them. I'm working from the stern to the bow and completing all the elements for each area as I move along. I've eliminated some of the rigging on the carronades. There are supposed to be two sets of tackle on each side, but I'm just modeling one of them. The scale of the blocks seems too big to me and when I tried to include the shorter set of tackle I ended up with the two blocks sitting very close together or even touching. It just looked too crowded and messy to me, so I've stripped it back a bit and leaving it at one set of tackle plus the breech line. I'm not sure if coiling the ends of the rope on the deck is historically accurate or not, but I'm doing it anyway for two reasons - I like the look of it and it's not hard to do and it tends to draw the eye away from some of my less skillful detailing.
David 

Your model is looking great!
David

Your model is looking great!
David

Hi Skip, Thanks for checking in. It's the miracle of out of focus photography that makes my skylight look ok, but thanks for your comment nevertheless. The decking is painted - it's just basswood. In Bob's practicum he tries to approximate the way the decking looks today, which is quite dark, but I'm not sure if that's the way it was intended to look or if it's just the result of thousands of tourists walking on it. I suspect the latter. In some photographs of the actual ship you can see areas where it isn't worn and it appears to me to be more of a honey colour. Bob mixed brown and gray paint, applied it and then rubbed much of it off. The photos of his model match the current appearance of the decking quite closely. (I should say until recent appearance, as the Constitution is now in dry dock, having another restoration.) I was afraid to apply paint as that seemed to me like a heavy handed treatment, so I tried a number of times to stain it. I had every colour under the sun on it at one time or another and they all looked terrible. The basswood doesn't seem to take stain very nicely. I stripped each one of them off and then went the paint route. I mixed some orangey-brown paint I had kicking around with some medium gray, painted it on and rubbed most of it off. It actually worked quite well. If it isn't perfect, it's certainly better than anything else I had tried and isn't too bad a match for it's (until recently) current appearance.
David 

Thanks for the input guys. Mark, I was pretty sure this tackle was in place only when needed and Mike, I agree with you about the scale of the model. For these reasons I am going to leave it off. Depending on how many of my eyebolts vanish into the abyss that is my basement floor, I may install the eyebolts on the deck though. I've already added them to the carriages.
Thanks again,
David

Hi Skip, Thanks for checking in. It's the miracle of out of focus photography that makes my skylight look ok, but thanks for your comment nevertheless. The decking is painted - it's just basswood. In Bob's practicum he tries to approximate the way the decking looks today, which is quite dark, but I'm not sure if that's the way it was intended to look or if it's just the result of thousands of tourists walking on it. I suspect the latter. In some photographs of the actual ship you can see areas where it isn't worn and it appears to me to be more of a honey colour. Bob mixed brown and gray paint, applied it and then rubbed much of it off. The photos of his model match the current appearance of the decking quite closely. (I should say until recent appearance, as the Constitution is now in dry dock, having another restoration.) I was afraid to apply paint as that seemed to me like a heavy handed treatment, so I tried a number of times to stain it. I had every colour under the sun on it at one time or another and they all looked terrible. The basswood doesn't seem to take stain very nicely. I stripped each one of them off and then went the paint route. I mixed some orangey-brown paint I had kicking around with some medium gray, painted it on and rubbed most of it off. It actually worked quite well. If it isn't perfect, it's certainly better than anything else I had tried and isn't too bad a match for it's (until recently) current appearance.
David 

Hi Skip, Thanks for checking in. It's the miracle of out of focus photography that makes my skylight look ok, but thanks for your comment nevertheless. The decking is painted - it's just basswood. In Bob's practicum he tries to approximate the way the decking looks today, which is quite dark, but I'm not sure if that's the way it was intended to look or if it's just the result of thousands of tourists walking on it. I suspect the latter. In some photographs of the actual ship you can see areas where it isn't worn and it appears to me to be more of a honey colour. Bob mixed brown and gray paint, applied it and then rubbed much of it off. The photos of his model match the current appearance of the decking quite closely. (I should say until recent appearance, as the Constitution is now in dry dock, having another restoration.) I was afraid to apply paint as that seemed to me like a heavy handed treatment, so I tried a number of times to stain it. I had every colour under the sun on it at one time or another and they all looked terrible. The basswood doesn't seem to take stain very nicely. I stripped each one of them off and then went the paint route. I mixed some orangey-brown paint I had kicking around with some medium gray, painted it on and rubbed most of it off. It actually worked quite well. If it isn't perfect, it's certainly better than anything else I had tried and isn't too bad a match for it's (until recently) current appearance.
David 

Hi Skip, Thanks for checking in. It's the miracle of out of focus photography that makes my skylight look ok, but thanks for your comment nevertheless. The decking is painted - it's just basswood. In Bob's practicum he tries to approximate the way the decking looks today, which is quite dark, but I'm not sure if that's the way it was intended to look or if it's just the result of thousands of tourists walking on it. I suspect the latter. In some photographs of the actual ship you can see areas where it isn't worn and it appears to me to be more of a honey colour. Bob mixed brown and gray paint, applied it and then rubbed much of it off. The photos of his model match the current appearance of the decking quite closely. (I should say until recent appearance, as the Constitution is now in dry dock, having another restoration.) I was afraid to apply paint as that seemed to me like a heavy handed treatment, so I tried a number of times to stain it. I had every colour under the sun on it at one time or another and they all looked terrible. The basswood doesn't seem to take stain very nicely. I stripped each one of them off and then went the paint route. I mixed some orangey-brown paint I had kicking around with some medium gray, painted it on and rubbed most of it off. It actually worked quite well. If it isn't perfect, it's certainly better than anything else I had tried and isn't too bad a match for it's (until recently) current appearance.
David 

Thanks for the input guys. Mark, I was pretty sure this tackle was in place only when needed and Mike, I agree with you about the scale of the model. For these reasons I am going to leave it off. Depending on how many of my eyebolts vanish into the abyss that is my basement floor, I may install the eyebolts on the deck though. I've already added them to the carriages.
Thanks again,
David

Hi Skip, Thanks for checking in. It's the miracle of out of focus photography that makes my skylight look ok, but thanks for your comment nevertheless. The decking is painted - it's just basswood. In Bob's practicum he tries to approximate the way the decking looks today, which is quite dark, but I'm not sure if that's the way it was intended to look or if it's just the result of thousands of tourists walking on it. I suspect the latter. In some photographs of the actual ship you can see areas where it isn't worn and it appears to me to be more of a honey colour. Bob mixed brown and gray paint, applied it and then rubbed much of it off. The photos of his model match the current appearance of the decking quite closely. (I should say until recent appearance, as the Constitution is now in dry dock, having another restoration.) I was afraid to apply paint as that seemed to me like a heavy handed treatment, so I tried a number of times to stain it. I had every colour under the sun on it at one time or another and they all looked terrible. The basswood doesn't seem to take stain very nicely. I stripped each one of them off and then went the paint route. I mixed some orangey-brown paint I had kicking around with some medium gray, painted it on and rubbed most of it off. It actually worked quite well. If it isn't perfect, it's certainly better than anything else I had tried and isn't too bad a match for it's (until recently) current appearance.
David 

Thanks for the input guys. Mark, I was pretty sure this tackle was in place only when needed and Mike, I agree with you about the scale of the model. For these reasons I am going to leave it off. Depending on how many of my eyebolts vanish into the abyss that is my basement floor, I may install the eyebolts on the deck though. I've already added them to the carriages.
Thanks again,
David

Hi Skip, Thanks for checking in. It's the miracle of out of focus photography that makes my skylight look ok, but thanks for your comment nevertheless. The decking is painted - it's just basswood. In Bob's practicum he tries to approximate the way the decking looks today, which is quite dark, but I'm not sure if that's the way it was intended to look or if it's just the result of thousands of tourists walking on it. I suspect the latter. In some photographs of the actual ship you can see areas where it isn't worn and it appears to me to be more of a honey colour. Bob mixed brown and gray paint, applied it and then rubbed much of it off. The photos of his model match the current appearance of the decking quite closely. (I should say until recent appearance, as the Constitution is now in dry dock, having another restoration.) I was afraid to apply paint as that seemed to me like a heavy handed treatment, so I tried a number of times to stain it. I had every colour under the sun on it at one time or another and they all looked terrible. The basswood doesn't seem to take stain very nicely. I stripped each one of them off and then went the paint route. I mixed some orangey-brown paint I had kicking around with some medium gray, painted it on and rubbed most of it off. It actually worked quite well. If it isn't perfect, it's certainly better than anything else I had tried and isn't too bad a match for it's (until recently) current appearance.
David 

The mast rings were a slow tedious process but well worth the effort. The round and half round rings were much easier than the square ones. The round ones were glued in place but the squares needed soldering at the ends to complete them. The challenge really was that each one had to be sized and fitted in each position due to the taper of the masts.
 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 
One thing I did in painting was to thin the primer and paint with 91% alcohol which made the flow much better and retained crisp detail including the joint lines in the chaffing fish. However, next time I may try using the wood conditioner first before priming to reduce the raising of the wood grain.  
 

 
Next I made the rope saddles that are located on the mast caps and added the eyebolts to the caps.
 

 

 
The thread order should be delivered sometime today via UPS, in the meantime I will sort out what to do next now that the masts are set.
 
 

The bridge is fairly much done, just have to add the flybridge which won't come till very late in the piece as they stick out a fair bit. The binnacle, search light controls, voice tubes and flag locker added, as well as 5 scratch built pinrails.No, the pinrails are not that good but they'll have to do as they will have rigging belayed to them.
 
At this macro there are lots of touch ups to go, but given the stays have to go in yet, there is not much point starting that till the end of the build to hunt and patch mistakes.
 
The Masts upper rigging is complete and all done off kit. At the moment they are just dry fitted and once stuck on, I will work inboard to outboard deck to topmast on the rigging.
 
I reckon I'm about 2/3rd of the way there now.

Thanks for the input guys. Mark, I was pretty sure this tackle was in place only when needed and Mike, I agree with you about the scale of the model. For these reasons I am going to leave it off. Depending on how many of my eyebolts vanish into the abyss that is my basement floor, I may install the eyebolts on the deck though. I've already added them to the carriages.
Thanks again,
David

Martin,
 
Thank you very much for taking the time to respond with so much detail. Yes, I study your build and Denis's thoroughly . Particularly as I move into new areas.
 
As I continue to study my situation I have found that part 20 and the corresponding thin plywood piece are each slightly different than what I see if I hold either of them up against the plans. However, when I fit them to the ship and align the plywoods lower notches to the the correct part of their respective frames, as shown on the plans, everything works out perfectly. That includes attaching the piece ahead of it that runs forward to the bow. With those two pieces of plywood butted nose to nose I end up with a small overhang at bow and stern - both the same. Therefore, I do not have a problem - it is simply that the plans and manual are slightly different than the kit .  .  .  .
 
This all came about when I began to temporarily attach the ply wood as a guide for planking the rear transom deck I thought it prudent to see if other related things were going to come together OK later on. I didn't want to have a terrible surprise when it came time to attach the plywood permanently and discover there was a problem that couldn't be fixed.
 
I just looked at your time line from start to where you are at the moment and it shows a striking example of the time required of an experienced builder like yourself and me with no experience to speak of. This model is fascinating and I look forward to getting into it every morning.
 
Respectfully,
John

Happy Wednesday Everyone,
Just a quick update today. It doesn't look like much progress, but for some reason it has taken a lot of time. I'm working away on the components for the deck, so I've been working off the model. I'm almost finished and ready to start attaching things. I've finished the gunport lids, made the pin rails, prepared all my cleats, made the skylight, binnacles, wheel, ammo scuttles and capstan and the carronades and cannons are all ready for rigging. I've just placed a few of these on the deck for the picture. None of them is actually installed yet.
 
Throughout the build, I am approached various jobs with fear and trepidation, only to find they weren't too bad after all. On the other hand from time to time something jumps up and catches me off guard. The latest in this category was the skylight. I found it to be one of the hardest parts to make yet. My final result is nothing to write home about, but it's about my sixth iteration, and it's as good as it's going to get. I tried forming the hexagon from individual pieces and I tried cutting it from a sold block. I tried using wood and I tried using styrene and most attempts ended in an amorphous blob covered with glue. I don't have any miniature machine tools; only hand tools. This final version is cut from a single piece of basswood with styrene trim and I can live with it, although the six sides and not exactly even. The trim on the upper portion is half round styrene and flat strips on the base. The bars on the windows are very fine brass rod.  I wasn't sure what to use for the cap, so went searching through my basement and in my drawer of lamp parts I found a hollow brass ball which was on the end of a lamp's pull chain. I filed it down until only about half of it was left and popped it on top. The tops for the binnacles are the same. I tried using a couple of the brass beads from the lamp chain, but they were just a bit too big. This morning I went into a local jewelry making supply store we have in town and found these very small hollow brass beads which I was able to use in the same way by filing them in half. I only needed a couple, so the owner of the store just gave them to me - the advantages of small town living! 
 
That's it for now; soon on to rigging the cannons.
David

Hi Again,
Let's begin with the premise that "there is no such thing as a stupid question." With that in mind, I have a question (but it's possibly a stupid one even so.) What are people's thoughts on rigging the gun carriages with the train tackle (I believe it's called), the one that connects the back of the carriage to the deck? I notice some modelers include it and others don't. My inclination is to omit it, simply because there is so going on the deck as it is, it seems it might be adding too much clutter. On the other hand if it should be there then perhaps I should add it.
 
I realize that my question is naïve as I don't really have a clear understanding of how much of the equipment on a ship such as this was actually used. If I understood how and when this tackle was used I would be able to answer my own question. Was this tackle in place all the time, or was it removed and replaced depending on whether or not the guns were in use? If it wasn't a permanent fixture, then there's justification for modeling it either way. If it was a permanent fixture than there's a stronger case for including it.
 
Many thanks in advance for any input. Also, thanks for checking in and the likes.
David

Hi Tim,
Thanks for checking in. I just stuck the copper plates on and plan to leave them alone. I can live with whatever happens to them. I don't know if the copper tape I used has a finish or not  but I'm thinking it doesn't, because when I opened the roll of tape, the first outer bit of the tape was tarnished and rest of it was bright and shiny. So I anticipate that the hull will darken down some and that's fine with me. I did take one precaution though. Through my reading I learned that the one roll of tape included in the kit was not likely to be enough to do the whole hull and several people found that when they finished the hull with the second roll, there was a noticeable colour difference. To avoid that I ordered a second roll well in advance of needing it and when I did the coppering, I worked from both rolls at the same time. So if it does change colour it should all change at the same rate. You definitely need the second roll. It might be possible to cover the whole hull with one roll, but you would need to not waste one single plate. That was not the situation in my case - I have quite a bit of copper bits stuck to my basement floor. I probably have the only coppered basement floor in all of Cobourg if not the county!  
 
David

Happy Wednesday Everyone,
Just a quick update today. It doesn't look like much progress, but for some reason it has taken a lot of time. I'm working away on the components for the deck, so I've been working off the model. I'm almost finished and ready to start attaching things. I've finished the gunport lids, made the pin rails, prepared all my cleats, made the skylight, binnacles, wheel, ammo scuttles and capstan and the carronades and cannons are all ready for rigging. I've just placed a few of these on the deck for the picture. None of them is actually installed yet.
 
Throughout the build, I am approached various jobs with fear and trepidation, only to find they weren't too bad after all. On the other hand from time to time something jumps up and catches me off guard. The latest in this category was the skylight. I found it to be one of the hardest parts to make yet. My final result is nothing to write home about, but it's about my sixth iteration, and it's as good as it's going to get. I tried forming the hexagon from individual pieces and I tried cutting it from a sold block. I tried using wood and I tried using styrene and most attempts ended in an amorphous blob covered with glue. I don't have any miniature machine tools; only hand tools. This final version is cut from a single piece of basswood with styrene trim and I can live with it, although the six sides and not exactly even. The trim on the upper portion is half round styrene and flat strips on the base. The bars on the windows are very fine brass rod.  I wasn't sure what to use for the cap, so went searching through my basement and in my drawer of lamp parts I found a hollow brass ball which was on the end of a lamp's pull chain. I filed it down until only about half of it was left and popped it on top. The tops for the binnacles are the same. I tried using a couple of the brass beads from the lamp chain, but they were just a bit too big. This morning I went into a local jewelry making supply store we have in town and found these very small hollow brass beads which I was able to use in the same way by filing them in half. I only needed a couple, so the owner of the store just gave them to me - the advantages of small town living! 
 
That's it for now; soon on to rigging the cannons.
David

Happy Wednesday Everyone,
I'm still working away, although in for the past while it's been lots of work, but little evidence of progress. I'm using the LLS practicum and Chapters 10, 11 and 12 all concern the many details on the outside of the hull, on the deck and on the bulwarks. I'm grappling a bit with the sequence. I don't care for the sequence outlined in the practicum, but it goes against the grain for me to deviate. I tend to be "compliance oriented" and if it says to do it a certain way, then that's the way it should be. I need to be more like Captain Barbossa in Pirates of the Caribbean, who interprets the Pirate's Code as "more what you call guidelines than actual rules."
 
The practicum has us add much detail to the outer hull first, then all the detail to the centre of the deck and finally detail to the bulwarks. I'm worried about knocking gunport lids and davits and what have you off as I work on the interior stuff and I can't see cluttering up the centre of the deck before I have to drill holes in the bulwarks for the eyebolts, cleats etc. So I'm going to "live on the edge" and do the bulwark stuff first, then the more central deck details followed by the outer hull details and then finally to top rail. 
 
I'm currently working on completing all the many components - gun carriages, gunport lids, horse block, ramps, binnacles etc. etc. A few of them are included in the picture.
David